The Canon Wireless File Transmitter E3(A), or WFT-E3(A) for short, equips the EOS 40D and EOS 50D digital SLRs with Wifi capabilities, allowing you to transfer images wirelessly to a computer or even direct to a website or ftp server. The Wifi also lets you wirelessly remote control the camera, including a live preview of the scene on your computer monitor. You can even remote-trigger the camera from a website.

If you’re after higher performance, the WFT-E3(A) also includes a wired Ethernet port, giving you close to the speed of the camera’s supplied USB cable, but over much longer distances. There’s additionally a full-size USB port which lets you connect external storage devices for backing-up images, or recording files as you take them. This port can alternatively be used to connect a compatible GPS unit to store your exact co-ordinates in the image header.

All these features are packed into a handy portrait-grip which screws onto the bottom of the EOS 40D or 50D, allowing you to hold it more comfortably when shooting in the portrait orientation. It’s one of the most feature-packed accessories we’ve ever tested at Camera Labs and in our Canon WFT-E3(A) review we’ll put each aspect to the test. As always, we also have a demonstration in our Canon WFT-E3(A) video tour.

Note: The Wireless File Transmitter is available in two versions depending on your region. Both are identical other than their number of wireless radio channels: the WFT-E3 supports 13 channels, while the WFT-E3(A) supports 11 to comply with regulations in the USA and Canada, just like other wireless networking devices. Since this is the only difference, we’ll refer to both as the WFT-E3 for clarity from this point on. Our WFT-E3 was running firmware 1.0.0, while the EOS 40D ran 1.0.3. At the time of writing, the WFT-E3 was only compatible with the EOS 40D, although the WFT-E2 transmitter for the 1Ds Mark III offers the same features in a different package.

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